On Campus

Respected professor accused of prostitution ring

Physicist defends website as “safe place for guys to find prostitutes”

A professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey was arrested on Sunday for an alleged prostitution ring. Police told NorthJersey.com that physicist and astronomer David Flory has been charged with 40 counts of promoting prostitution in connection with his website, SouthwestCompanions.info.

Flory holds a master’s degree from Columbia University, a PhD from Yeshiva University and has served as chairman of the Physics Department and as director of the School of Natural Sciences, according to his website. He has a vacation home in New Mexico. He and his wife Sharon, a phychotherapist, live in Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

Lieutenant William Roseman of the Albuquerque Police told NewJersey.com that Southwest Companions would only give access to men who were known to be johns. If users became more frequent customers, their status would increase to “trusted,” at which point they would gain access to more women, plus message boards with tips on how to avoid police and lawyers’ advice on what to do if arrested. Roseman said that Flory told police he did not make money off of the website and instead saw it as “a safe place for guys to find female prostitutes.”

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